


Sabotage

by Pandora151



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi, Morally Ambiguous Character, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Poisoning, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26528080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandora151/pseuds/Pandora151
Summary: In hindsight, Obi-Wan really should have seen it coming.His intentions were only to tell Dooku about Qui-Gon’s death, since the Council had decided to keep that under wraps for now.  Dooku had only left the Order a few months earlier, and Obi-Wan had never met him before, but…But he couldn’t help but think that Dooku would want to know what happened.
Relationships: Dooku & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 36
Kudos: 260
Collections: Star Wars, Star Wars Fanfiction Discord





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Here's another Whumptober 2019 two-parter.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

In hindsight, Obi-Wan really should have seen it coming.

His intentions were only to tell Dooku about Qui-Gon’s death, since the Council had decided to keep that under wraps for now. Dooku had only left the Order a few months earlier, and Obi-Wan had never met him before, but…

But he couldn’t help but think that Dooku would _want_ to know what happened.

Anakin wasn’t exactly happy that he was leaving him alone in the Temple _again_ , but Obi-Wan had reassured him that he would be back as soon as possible.

Which led him to where he was now, sitting in Dooku’s large dining room.

“There must be a reason you came all this way, Obi-Wan,” Dooku said, frowning. “You seem…unsettled, if you do not mind me saying so.”

_Unsettled?_

That was certainly one way of putting it.

Qui-Gon’s death had done more than unsettle him; it—scarred him. Not that he would openly admit that to the man who trained Qui-Gon. That wouldn’t do.

Obi-Wan swallowed, forcing himself to speak. “Master—”

“I am no Jedi; please do not call me that.”

“Dooku,” Obi-Wan said, and he sighed, resisting the urge to rub at the gnawing ache in his temples.

“Perhaps a drink, Obi-Wan?” Dooku suggested, tilting his head. There was a strange brightness gleaming in his eyes, but Obi-Wan took that as a form of curiosity.

Obi-Wan swallowed. He should have meditated properly before coming here, but he’d been too unsettled to meditate properly since Naboo, and he couldn’t just—

“Alright,” he heard himself say, over the rushing sound in his ears, and Dooku got up to retrieve some wine glasses.

“Have you heard about Naboo?” Obi-Wan blurted out as he watched Dooku take a wine bottle out of a cabinet.

Dooku turned towards him with a raised eyebrow, bottle in hand. “The blockade, you mean? I’ve heard the rumors, but I’m afraid I haven’t paid it too much attention.”

Dooku walked back to the wine glasses and began to pour. “I imagine that something of importance must have happened there…” he mused. “Qui-Gon?”

Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan let out a soft sigh. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “He was killed on Naboo. I—” His throat closed up, and he found himself feeling like he was drowning, barely able to breathe or even think.

“I couldn’t save him,” he managed.

By the time Obi-Wan opened his eyes, Dooku was walking over to him, holding two glasses of dark wine.

Nodding slowly, Obi-Wan accepted the offered glass and took a long sip.

Almost immediately, his throat closed up, and he felt the Force flicker out of existence from his mind, as pain rushed into his senses, easily overwhelming him.

Obi-Wan choked, bringing shaking hands up to his throat. “What?” he gasped, and he fell out of his chair onto his knees. The glass he was holding slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground, shattering instantly.

He forced himself to look up at Dooku, who had put his own untouched glass onto the table and was walking towards Obi-Wan.

“W-why?” Obi-Wan stuttered, struggling to get air into his lungs. He couldn’t breathe; it felt as though there was blood rushing up his throat into his mouth, and he felt the sudden urge to vomit.

Dooku lifted a hand, easily sending Obi-Wan flying back into the wall.

Blinking heavily, Obi-Wan stared at the tall form approaching him, struggling to get his feet under him. He coughed weakly and retched, wincing from the metallic feeling of blood coating his mouth.

Whatever this poison was, it was _strong_. It had instantly cut him off from the Force and was efficiently shutting down the rest of his senses.

There was a voice rumbling from somewhere in the distance, followed by the feeling of an ice-cold hand pressing itself to his cheek.

“One day, you will understand.”

Before Obi-Wan could even think about that statement, renewed pain flooded his senses, and he let out a gasp before everything faded away into darkness.

* * *

Obi-Wan woke up to frantic shouting. He moaned, feeling cold hands pressing onto his head and neck.

Everything hurt, in that terribly overwhelming way that made him wish he was sucked back into the darkness instead of facing reality. It was just… _too_ much.

“Obi-Wan?”

That one voice, familiar and painful, cut through all of the others, sharp yet worried and unsure.

“Ana…” he mumbled before coughing as sharp pain cut into his chest. Obi-Wan gasped, eyes flying open.

“Easy, easy.” The hands on his neck moved down to his chest, massaging gently. “Slow breaths, Obi-Wan.” The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t bring himself to think about who it was—most likely one of the healers.

Groaning, Obi-Wan let his head sink back into the pillow, vision immediately blurring. “I’m…” he whispered.

“You were poisoned,” the healer continued. “Gave a bunch of us a good scare, but Master Che managed to come up with an antidote. How are you feeling?”

“Anakin?” he mumbled, and he felt a smaller hand reach for his, gripping it tightly.

“I’m here,” Anakin said, voice shaking. “You scared me, Master. You were almost dead by the time you got back here.”

“Sorry,” Obi-Wan rasped, and he forced his eyes open, turning his head towards Anakin. “I…”

Whatever he was going to say completely escaped him, and a sudden wave of dizziness overwhelmed him. His ears began to ring, and he shuddered, feeling the healer pressing cold compresses to his neck.

“Master?”

The voices blurred together again, and Obi-Wan trembled, feeling something dripping out of his nose and mouth.

Over the voices surrounding him, he barely felt something cold and metallic press onto the side of his neck before he heard the _hiss_ of a hypospray.

“Rest, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan slumped backwards, falling back into blessed darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding Dooku again on Geonosis was quite a shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and welcome back! Here's the second and final chapter :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Finding Dooku again on Geonosis was quite a shock.

“Traitor,” Obi-Wan greeted as soon as the Sith Lord had entered the room. Obi-Wan couldn’t move to see him right away, but it didn’t matter. His Force presence was easy enough to detect—cold, dark, and malevolent.

He’d never forget how it felt when Dooku had poisoned him all those years ago. Anakin had told him long after it happened that he only barely managed to survive, thanks to Master Che’s antidote.

The antidote, however, only managed to keep him alive, not cure him of the symptoms. Recovering from that took a lot more time than anyone expected—Obi-Wan had to spend months in the Halls, and even after he was released, he was restricted to light duty for another half-year.

Even now, he hadn’t completely found his footing—there were moments when he felt a strange ache in his chest, when his head hurt so much that he was sure he would lose consciousness from the pain.

And Dooku was the reason for all of that.

Dooku let out a sigh as he approached the containment field. “Oh no, my friend, this is a mistake, a terrible mistake,” he replied. “They—”

“ _Friend_?” Obi-Wan snapped, and he looked directly at his Grandmaster, ignoring the jolt of electricity he felt from the movement. “You have lost any right to call me that.”

“Obi-Wan, I—”

“I have nothing to say to you, Dooku.”

Dooku scowled, and he stepped right up to the containment field so that he stood right in front of Obi-Wan.

“Then _listen_ ,” he said, voice sharp. “The Republic is now under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Hundreds of Senators are under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “That’s not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it,” he replied. “I don’t believe you.”

Dooku’s face twisted for a brief moment before he stepped back. “One day, Obi-Wan,” he said, “you will understand.”

Then, Dooku turned around left, leaving Obi-Wan alone in the containment field.

* * *

The battle in that Geonosian arena was horrible, but Obi-Wan realized that facing Dooku in the hangar was even worse.

Anakin had immediately rushed towards Dooku, driven by a burning thirst for revenge, but the Sith Lord easily threw him back with Force Lightning. Obi-Wan watched as Anakin slammed into the wall before he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. His pain roiled into the Force, and Obi-Wan felt a jolt of worry for his Padawan.

Dooku turned towards Obi-Wan, eyes glinting. “You do not want to do this, Obi-Wan,” he said. “There is much happening beyond this that you do not understand.”

Obi-Wan shook his head, placing himself directly in Dooku’s path to his ship.

Dooku’s face hardened. “So be it, Grandpadawan,” he murmured, igniting his own lightsaber.

The duel—if one could even call it that—was pitifully short.

Dooku was well-known for being a master swordsman, and Obi-Wan was anything but that, especially in this situation.

He was too exhausted, _unbalanced_.

So, when he fell to the ground, cradling his left arm and leg to his chest, Obi-Wan couldn’t help but think that everything was lost.

Of course, it only got worse from there.

Anakin got up, only to fall again to Dooku and to lose his right hand. Yoda arrived, but Dooku still got away.

And now, war was a terrible facet of reality, and Obi-Wan’s presence on Geonosis was what started it all. It was all his fault.

* * *

The war was terrible.

It was…constant, seamless, an ever-present part of Obi-Wan’s life.

There was the war, the symptoms that crept up on him every so often, and the despair that he felt everywhere in the Force. It was too much, more than he could handle at times. For all the battles they won, for all the effort he put into the war, it almost felt as though it would drag on forever.

In truth, Obi-Wan didn’t know how to make it stop, how to _end_ it.

Dooku was the leader of the Separatists. He was a Sith, bringing darkness and pain and misery to the galaxy.

Jedi and clones were dying all over the galaxy, and Dooku was losing _nothing_.

But three years after Geonosis, that all changed.

* * *

The Chancellor had been kidnapped and taken aboard Dooku’s ship. Obi-Wan and Anakin, who were in the Outer Rim, having just been reunited with Ahsoka, had been immediately recalled to Coruscant to rescue the Chancellor.

Obi-Wan had seen Dooku a few times over the years, but never for long. There was always a mission or battle, or just the feeling that he needed to _leave_ before Dooku would do something that would hurt his men.

But now, it was different.

There was a feeling of…finality, as though the war was finally going to end. Something was going to change—that much was obvious.

The duel had started off better than the one on Geonosis. Of course, part of it had to do with Anakin not rushing at Dooku right away, though Obi-Wan decided not to think about that too much.

Then, Dooku spun away from Anakin and Obi-Wan towards Palpatine and drove his lightsaber into the Chancellor’s chest.

The Force _screamed_ , and Anakin let out a shout, rushing forward towards Dooku. But Dooku dropped his saber to the ground, raising his hands in surrender before he turned to face Obi-Wan.

“I surrender.”

Obi-Wan felt his blood go cold as Dooku fell to his knees, bowing his head.

Anakin paused, his confusion screaming out into the Force along with his pain.

Right—the Chancellor was his friend, and Dooku had just killed him without warning or even explanation: it just happened so quickly that Obi-Wan still found himself unable to believe it.

There was something about this that made Obi-Wan think that _this_ was Dooku’s intention all along.

He felt…cold, almost numb.

_There is something about this I don’t understand._

The Force was lighter somehow, as though something had just _shifted_ between the Light and the Dark, giving way to a sort of balance that—

But that would only mean that—

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said finally, voice far away, turning towards his former Padawan. Anakin’s shoulders slumped as he extinguished his lightsaber. “We need to get control of this ship.”

Anakin nodded silently, moving away from Dooku and the Chancellor’s body and leaving the room. There was a sort of brokenness to his presence, but Obi-Wan couldn’t bring himself to think too much about it right now.

Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose. His head was hurting; he’d have to get back to the Temple into a dim room and lie down sooner rather than later.

Instead, he sighed and opened his eyes again. Obi-Wan walked to where his Grandmaster remained kneeling on the ground, head bowed.

“You…” he began, and his voice trailed off.

Dooku’s head shifted upwards, his eyes meeting Obi-Wan’s directly.

“It was the Chancellor,” Obi-Wan realized, and he felt even more numb, more unsettled by the realization. “You weren’t lying on Geonosis—it was the Chancellor.”

“Yes,” Dooku replied.

“Why would you—”

“I was never on his side,” Dooku said. “I needed him to trust me, and I had to do whatever he wanted, which included hurting you.”

Obi-Wan shuddered.

“I am sorry,” Dooku murmured, bowing his head again. “Whatever punishment you or the Jedi Council deem fit for my actions, I will accept it.”

The numbness felt as though it was spreading across his chest, a cruel echo of the poison from all those years ago. Obi-Wan shivered, curling into himself.

He needed—

“Obi-Wan?”

Dooku was looking up at him again, eyes bright with concern.

His vision was blurring, and his head was hurting more than before. Obi-Wan shook his head slowly.

“The Jedi Council will decide your fate,” Obi-Wan murmured. He couldn’t think about everything Dooku had just told him and what it all _meant_ , considering everything he thought he knew about his Grandmaster before.

It was a lie, all of it.

With trembling hands, Obi-Wan pulled a set of Force-dampening cuffs from a pouch attached to his belt and snapped them over Dooku’s wrists.

Then, he walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and please leave a comment on your way out! 
> 
> You can find me at tumblr here: [Pandora15](https://pandora15.tumblr.com/).

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm thinking that I'll post the second and final chapter on Monday, September 21st. See you then! :)


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